3D TV comes to the MiddleEast:

2 weeks before the start of the FIFA WorldCup, people in AbuDhabi, Dubai and the rest of the UAE were pleasantly surprised by an announcement by the two Telecoms and Cable TV operators DU and Etisalat, that a 3D TV channel had been launched. Soccer has a major following in the region, and the FIFA World Cup will feature up to 25 matches shot and broadcast in 3D. The launch of 3D TVs by almost all major television manufacturers such as Samsung, Panasonic and Sony is perfect timing for a 3D TV channel.

DU already has channel #699 relaying a 3D TV feed from Eutelsat. There is no doubt that Etisalat has a similar channel dedicated to a test 3D feed as well. It is available free to subscribers of DU and the IPTV set-top boxes (Motorola – Kreatel) show it in a side-by-side 3D format.

3DTV without a dedicated 3D Television:

We all know that 3DTVs are going to be expensive. There is a choice of both Plasma and LCD (there is no such thing as LED 3D Tvs yet. The “LED” is just backlighting not actual pixels made up of LED’s). So how do we go about watching the free 3D TV channel and maybe even the paid package of FIFA in 3D? Here’s what you need:

• USB video capture device or PCI video grabber card – Really cheap ones give you both S-video input (better quality) or normal composite video in.
• DU or Etisalat E-vision subscription (this assumes you are living in the UAE)
• Stereoscopic Player Software from 3DTV.at – 5 minute timeout or register for unlimited personal use at Euro 40 only!
• Laptop or Desktop PC. (Windows Vista / XP) sorry MAC users, we don’t know of a solution yet
• Any 3D DVD from music stores such as Virgin – These come with at least 4 pairs of anaglyph 3D glasses. (we need the glasses only not the dvd)
• Optional – Home Projector for really big screen enjoyment!

Method 1 – The most cost effective way:

Connect your USB grabber device to the laptop and install the associated software drivers. Next, install Stereoscopic Player software on the Laptop. Now connect either the s-video output of the DU IPTV set-top box or the normal video out of the box to the USB video grabber input.

Now launch Stereoscopic Player software and select the “Live input” mode from the dropdown file menu. Select the USB grabber as the source. Next select the input layout as Side-by-Side left image first.

Then select the output (viewing) method as Anaglyph half-color or Optimized Anagalyph according to your taste. Next in the file drop-down menu, Video Properties select to de-interlace the video, and choose aspect ration of 4:3. Lastly if there is too strong a 3D effect (too much parallax) click reset parallax and also use the right or left arrow keys so that the “3D” logo is aligned and not a double image. More tweeks such as increasing teh frame grab size and color settings can be done depending on the frame grabber used and by exploring the menus in Stereoscopic Player.

Put on your 3D glasses and enjoy! – Please watch out for inverted 3D (left, right images swapped). You would know something is not right by clicking the invert button on the software and seeing what is more comfortable.

Method 2 – Full Color with Nvidia 3D Kit or XpanD glasses.

If you do own the Nvidia 3D Kit, and a compatible 3D monitor you can watch in full color. If you also have a 3D DLP ready Home Theater projector such as from BenQ, Acer, Viewsonic and a few others, Shutter glasses can be bought online and a big screen family event can be had – a FIFA party!

More likely however, in such a case buying a 55 or 60 inch 3D Television from Samsung or Panasonic would be less cumbersome!

Anaglyph 3D? what about the colors:

Method 1 outlined above allows for cost effective enjoyment of 3D Television in the UAE and possibly even the FIFA world cup at a very cost effective price without the need for a dedicated 3D television! Even though the 3D is anaglyph, because the anaglyph is being encoded on-the-fly by the PC, color loss and quality should be minimal. With the World Cup starting in 2 days, there maybe no time (or budgets) to do a comparative study on the best 3D TV to buy. This is a stop-gap approach to enjoying 3D TV in the UAE at a cost of less that US$ 100! (not including PC and FIFA sports package)

By using an HDMI Video Grabber such as the Black Magic Intensity Shuttle the component or HDMI output of the DU IPTV set top box can be used for pristine image quality. When projected on a simple white surface or screen with ANY regular Home Theater projector, a big screen 3D TV experience can be had.

The 2010 FIFA 3D Schedule according to ESPN:

Date	Time (all ET)	Match
Fri, June 11	9:30 a.m.	South Africa vs. Mexico
Sat, June 12	9:30 a.m.	Argentina vs. Nigeria
Sun, June 13	2 p.m.	Germany vs. Australia
Mon, June 14	7 a.m.	Netherlands vs. Denmark
Tues, June 15	2 p.m.	Brazil vs. North Korea
Wed, June 16	9:30 a.m.	Spain vs. Switzerland
Thurs, June 17	7 a.m.	Argentina vs. South Korea
Fri, June 18	9:30 a.m.	Slovenia vs. United States
Sat, June 19	7 a.m.	Netherlands vs. Japan
Sun, June 20	2 p.m.	Brazil vs. Ivory Coast
Mon, June 21	2 p.m.	Spain vs. Honduras
Tues, June 22	2 p.m.	Nigeria vs. South Korea
Wed, June 23	2 p.m.	Ghana vs. Germany
Thurs, June 24	9:30 a.m.	Slovakia vs. Italy
Fri, June 25	9:30 a.m.	Portugal vs. Brazil
Sun, June 27	2 p.m.	Round of 16 match
Mon, June 28	9:30 a.m.	Round of 16 match
	2 p.m.	Round of 16 match
Fri, July 2	2 p.m.	Quarterfinals
Sat, July 3	9:30 a.m.	Quarterfinals
Sat, July 3	2 p.m.	Quarterfinals
Tues, July 6	2 p.m.	Semifinals
Wed, July 7	2 p.m.	Semifinals
Sat, July 10	2 p.m.	3rd place match
Sun, July 11	2 p.m.	Finals

Disclaimer: This article has been written for educative purposes only. Experiments are carried out at the risk of the reader and the author shall not be held liable in any regard to any damages caused by following the methods outlined above.